Why does DC like killing off characters so much?

[Güicho]

Here is the cover. Sorry about the mark. Got it from google. Edit-if this is a spoiler then please add the picture in a spoiler tag. (I can't get pictures in spoiler tags on this site.)

And apparently reverse Zorro is killing everyone in the DCU

[Gaastra]

Wow! DC'S Ant-Man!

How strange is that?!

Sorry to get off topic, but that really surprised me.

I can't even find any info on him on the internet. Wonder what happened to him?

I guess he just faded away into the sunset.

DC has have a squirrel girl also!

https://dcau.fandom.com/wiki/Squirrel_Girl

And apparently reverse Zorro is killing everyone in the DCU

I knew it!

[Güicho]

WHY DOES DC LIKE KILLING OFF CHARACTERS SO MUCH?

Cause of the 90's Dark-Age/Tinfoil-Age/Shock & Awe era, it's what sold the most creating the Speculator market boon: People not buying for characters, but for events, and particularly around "Death-Events".

Mid 80's Bronze Age ended with Crisis (death of Allen) 1985, and the Bronze-Age "Relevancy" taken to it's dramatic end - Watchmen, Dark Knight, where comics were now commentary on Superhero themselves, vs. Vigilantism.

What followed was the Dark Age or Shock & Awe age, the most shallow aping of those ^ books, with none of the "Relevance".
Instead replaced by banal, shallow, cynical glorification of violence, mindlessly aping those two books with eXtreme deaths! And events.
Death of Todd (complete with torture, a gruesome 1-(1900 #money generating number, so the "fans" could participate, and vote in the Death), Death of Superman (where it was solidified as a money generating Event), Breaking Batman, blowing up Green Arrow so Conner can take over, crippling Batgirl, Insane Jordan Killing the Corps etc... drove the industry and the creation of the speculator or tinfoil-age, as speculators started buying for supposed "key-issues" meaning anything with shocking crippling, character heal-turns, deaths, and events, they bought multiple of copies of.




Pitched marketed and sold as "Key-Issues" = "in this issue _____ is Crippled, goes Insane, Dies! ...etc! " The character or their history didn't mater, what mattered was now any mindless shocking violent, easy hook, which they bought in droves.
As long as the same people still buzz and buy into the same crap, they will continue try to market to that same mentality, whenever they can.

Man, that picture alone basically says it all, doesn't it?

The new picture...

Here is the cover. Sorry about the mark. Got it from google. Edit-if this is a spoiler then please add the picture in a spoiler tag. (I can't get pictures in spoiler tags on this site.) [IMG]

The proposed cover to Heroes in Crisis, if anyone is wondering if they are still feeding the fans who devour this garbage.
Yeah they changed it, yet it's clear what the "event" is exploiting and what they are selling.

This won't stop till the fans stop buying these purely for shock and awe events.

The Old, the New, ...And now the Self-Parody.

SUPERMAN’S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #3
written by MATT FRACTION
art and cover by STEVE LIEBER
variant cover by BEN OLIVER
Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today in this catalog to remember our friend, Superman’s pal, the late Jimmy Olsen...’s assassination decoy!
Wait, somebody killed Jimmy’s decoy body? But whodunit? And, like, whydunit? And…wait, when did Jimmy get a decoy of himself? What we do know is it’s not safe for Jimmy in the City of Tomorrow anymore, and with Superman busy and all (you read that SUPERMAN #15 solicit yet?), Jimmy’s best bet is to solve his own murder within the safe borders of Gotham City! (Seriously, “safe”?)
ON SALE 09.18.19

LOL so this is Fraction kind of hysterically subverting the whole 90's trend.
So we know the trend, you fed into it, what DC has given you since they crowbar-ed Robin and Crippled and exploited Batgirl for you; when a character sales or direction has gotten stale, pull the Tinfoil-Age/Shock & Awe/Grim-Dark 90s move; the most shallow, cynical glorification of violence imaginable, shocking crippling, violation, out-of-character heal-turns assassination, exploitation and deaths!
Anything shocking, and a huge ATTENTION GRABBING HEADLINE to go with it, to desperately garner attention and sales to the character! And they still feed it to you.
This cover has it all...

So would that work for Jimmy Olsen, here is an event, story line and cover that blatantly does all that, yet....who would actually care? it's Jimmy Olsen, Probably next to nobody.
So make fun of the whole thing, he's naked, shot , and exploited on the cover YAY 90's! Yet hysterically reveal it's his "cardboard" decoy on the cover LOL!

Stand in for "fake" which is how these events work. Written out of character and/or exploited to the worst, for pure 90's shock exploitation.

Why? Can’t creators and editorial craft good stories without having to kill somebody? Why does that seem to be their main go-to when they have a big story to tell? Just give us a big story without sticking [it] to anybody.

At least someone at DC is aware of and addressing how transparent their gimmick and the fans who fe[e]d into it are. LOL!

[Gaastra]

Has anyone been killed off as much as Wally has?

Jean grey has died so many times even marvel has made fun of it!

[MajorHoy]

Has anyone been killed off as much as Wally has?

Jean grey has died so many times even marvel has made fun of it!

[Tzigone]

because they're freaking lazy and people actually buy books featuring character death. It worked with Superman and Jason because it was their first, I have no idea why people keep buying it now when we know they're gonna be back in a year.

Tell me about it. I was so bored when reading Roy's funeral. I should care, but nope. Even with Superman - I binge-read the storyline last year maybe (only started reading DC in 2015 and then only pre-52 stuff at first because at least I knew going in it was all going to end) - and I liked it okay. I'd have just been like "are done yet" and "is he back yet" if I'd actually had to go through all those months of no Superman (in Superman titles).

What might have been heart-breaking once is now just a tedious wait until it's reversed. Especially for characters I like and want to read about.

Jean grey has died so many times even marvel has made fun of it!

I feel like she's almost the only character you can get away with multiple resurrections with - purely because she's called "Phoenix."

I don't know - maybe it appeals to new readers because they haven't done the death/resurrection thing a few dozen times already.

[dietrich]

Damian was killed because his creator Morrison didn’t want other writers use him.
Bart Allen was killed because Didio wanted him to replace Wally, hold the place for Barry until they brought Barry back. Obviously that failed and Bart’s book sold so bad. So they had no other ways but to kill him and bring back Wally.

Why did they kill Damian a 2nd time then?

For the record Damian was killed the first time because Morrison didn't want to force other writers to deal with a status quo they might not want to so he decided to leave the place how he found it.,

Morrison specifically mentioned that he knew Scott liked a lone Batman. He explained that he knew Scott wanted to write a batman that was at a different point in his life so he [Morrison] didn't want to saddle him [scott] with a kid he'd be forced to write. nothing to do with not wanting other writers to use him.

[Güicho]

Damian was killed because his creator Morrison didn’t want other writers use him.

Sort of, he didn't want to saddle Batman with a kid and baggage, that later writers would inadvertently start aging, then have to write around and eventually have to kill, so he just did it himself.

[Güicho]

Speaking of funerals..?

As per the march...

Why do some images have Captain Marvel and Beastboy holding the casket, then the same scene (drawing) has Batman and Robin instead?
(also LOL Atom jumped on-board!)

[phantom1592]

Speaking of funerals..?

As per the march...

Why do some images have Captain Marvel and Beastboy holding the casket, then the same scene (drawing) has Batman and Robin instead?
(also LOL Atom jumped on-board!)

Interesting.... I've never seen the Captain Marvel one. And why Beast Boy?? He would have ZERO reason for being there. Robin is questionable but as an A-list pillar of DC, it makes sense even if the specific Robin had little connection with Superman... but Beast Boy?!?


I can only assume that it's a promotional image that had Batman in there... but it doesn't make sense for the character to really be walking down a street like that, so someone did some photoshop magic. The poses area all the same.

[Güicho]

Yea clearly there was an editorially mandated change, between promo material and final product.
Just wondering what the story was, who noticed, and enacted the change, decided Batman needed to be more prominent (more important he be there, which makes more sense).
Why wasn't it him from the go, any in story rational? etc????

The exact same two character swap occurs here...

[phantom1592]

Yea clearly there was an editorially mandated change, between promo material and final product.
Just wondering what the story was, who noticed, and enacted the change, decided Batman needed to be more prominent (more important he be there, which makes more sense).
Why wasn't it him from the go, any in story rational? etc????

The exact same two character swap occurs here...

I wonder if it was some kind of 'spoiler free' thing... that still happens today where charcters are switched around to keep secrets. Really it HAS to be Batman because of their connections... and Captain Marvel just looks weird there.


THAT said... I wish I lived in the alternate universe where after Superman dies, Captain Marvel steps up front and center and gets to be top dog superhero of the DC universe.... That woudl have been awesome!!

[Rincewind]

Speaking of funerals..?

As per the march...

Why do some images have Captain Marvel and Beastboy holding the casket, then the same scene (drawing) has Batman and Robin instead?
(also LOL Atom jumped on-board!)

The top image most likely came from the comic.

The other 2 images were most likely just promotional pieces. There are too many continuity and story reasons that they wouldn't appear in an actual comic.
1. Blue Beetle was in a coma at the time of the funeral
2. Bloodwynd and Martian Manhunter are both shown. At the time MM was disguised as Bloodwynd, while the real Bloodwynd was trapped.
3. Booster Gold's suit was destroyed by Doomsday.
4. Characters like Dream and Darkseid are shown, though it is very unlikely they would be present.

[krazijoe]

Because that is how you show how evil something is.
Heroes should die, as should villains and plus when they come back, it's a additional bump in sales.

[manwhohaseverything]

Because that is how you show how evil something is.
Heroes should die, as should villains and plus when they come back, it's a additional bump in sales.

Maniacal laughter and Evil monologues does the trick too.